Playing It Safe
by Random Guise
Summary: Okay, time to cover the DS9 show with its own short. Guess what, those pesky safety protocols have acted up again on the holosuites, but not quite in the usual way. Near the end of the 3rd season I think. I don't own these characters, and I can barely simulate staying awake sometimes. Complete with 2 chapters. Spelling (mostly?) fixed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It's a common plot device; the holodeck/holosuite safety protocols are turned off somehow due to equipment error, damage or interference. I understand the use, because it helps move the plot along to have the characters in peril. But I was thinking...**

 **I'm sure I've got some technical errors here. I enjoy the series a great deal, but I even spelled "O'Brian" wrong in the first draft and I always seem to get ranks mixed up. This short is in two chapters.  
**

* * *

Playing It Safe

18:05 hours

"Quark, are the holosuites available yet?" Miles O'Brien asked as he ducked into the bar for the fourth time in two hours.

"Just went online a few minutes ago Chief. You better hurry, they're filling up fast." The fact was that they weren't filling up because the news hadn't spread yet; it was just good business to occasionally overstate demand for the purpose of generating greater demand.

And at Quark's, the holosuites were good business. Although used for official Starfleet training occasionally, the majority of the time they were used for entertainment purposes. The entertainment varied, and Quark made sure to keep up with the latest trends and requests whenever possible.

One of those requests was the reason the holosuites had been offline for several days now. Starfleet had requested that the safety protocols be strengthened after several incidents elsewhere involving failures of the protocols to protect the users. Not wanting to lose a source of income, Quark had obtained an upgrade for the programming from a connection who knew someone that worked for someone that was related to a person that lived next door to one of the designers. He had installed the program module himself, which due to some hard-coding wouldn't activate until 1900 hours that evening. But time was profit, and that left nearly an hour before the modules kicked in. Until then the users would just have to be as careful as they normally were; the waivers they signed should take care of the occasional bruised leg or broken finger.

18:30 hours

O'Brien returned wearing a wet suit, followed by a similarly clad Julian Bashir. "Miles, I'm still not particularly thrilled with the idea of plummeting down a river while in the process of drowning" he said as they made their way over to the bar.

"I've told you Julian," assured O'Brien "you're not plummeting…you're floating. Just remember to stay right side up and away from any waterfalls." The Chief caught Quark's attention. "Suite #3 please, Quark."

"Sorry Chief, #3 is still down. We used it as a regular room for a bachelor party last night and it hasn't been cleaned up yet. Let me see…Jadzia is using #1, #2 is reserved, the Commander is in #4…looks like you get lucky #5." Quark handed O'Brien a data rod for the holosuite.

"Lucky? I always get hurt in #5. Last time I ended up with a dislocated shoulder. I'd wait for #3, but I'm going to be tied up on some projects over the next few days. I've got Julian, so we'll probably take it easy."

"Probably?" asked Bashir with just a slight hint of worry. "Waterfalls?"

...

In holosuite #1 Jadzia wasn't wearing a wet suit, just her normal Starfleet uniform. It was like a second skin to her; comfortable and protective at the same time. But then again no one around her was wearing a wet suit either. There were uniforms to be sure, but they varied greatly in color and markings. Most bore names associated with commercially sold products long gone for centuries.

Dax had tried to explain it to Kira before. "Torias loved speed; it's what drew him to be a pilot. He found a small group of people that would hold races in vehicles that would only travel on the ground. The cost of the vehicles was offset by companies that would advertise their products or services on the vehicles and the suits worn by the drivers."

"Why did they race? To get from Point A to Point B faster than anyone else?"

"Oh no. They usually raced around a circuit that led back to itself in something called a 'lap'. A race would have a designated number of laps and the first one to complete them was the winner."

"So you went as fast as you could to get back to where you started, competing against other people doing the exact same thing. Sorry, I still don't see the appeal."

"Oh it's great fun! You strap into your vehicle and race against the others. It takes great skill to find the fastest way around the track and get around the other racers; it's not unusual for contact to occur."

"Any accidents?"

"Oh, when I knock them into the wall it's no accident. But only if I have to do it" Jadzia said with a grin. "Besides, next time the other holographic drivers might do it to me; They're quite good."

Jadzia was putting on her special protective headgear ("I don't like the name 'crash helmet' very much" said Kira) when the voice over the loudspeaker said "Drivers, to your vehicles." It was race time.

...

In holosuite #4 Benjamin Cisco looked up from the work space he was standing at. At the front of the class stood a man dressed completely in white, including chef's hat. He was speaking with a slight Italian accent; not difficult to understand if you were paying attention, but the captain had been distracted looking over his equipment for the cooking tutorial. Various ladles, spoons, knives and tongs along with assorted measuring containers were arranged around him to allow as many items as possible within an arm's reach.

"Computer, freeze program; resume at time index 03:23.00"

The program backed up and the chef repeated his comments about food degradation issues with heat selection of the gas burners used on the cookers. Cisco was trying something out of his comfort zone, and wanted to practice before springing the food on Jake and a captain he had just met by the name of Kasidy. He had tried preparing and serving a new dish for the first time to guests before, with the results being haphazard at best.

If there were going to be any problems, he wanted them to happen here.

...

Nog stood outside of a sorority house in holosuite #6. His uncle thought he was using the program for the usual reasons that patrons did, and he was right. He hadn't had much success with women on the station; they considered him too young, too poor or just too short. He needed a confidence boost and this program always helped; what better place to be accepted by women than at the Alpha Quad Gamma Quad Sorority and Comfort Society.

With a grin on his face he walked up to the front door with his pizza box; even this program had to start off somehow. Knocking, he called out "Pizza delivery!"

...

Major Kira watched over Ops from her console. It was evening and things were quieting down from the usual busy day schedule. With most of the senor personnel gone for the day, she was the lone commander on duty. No maintenance issues of any importance, no fights on the Promenade, not even any damaged ships trying to limp to the station. It was quiet.

Really quiet.

Too quiet thought Nerys. She was bored, and wished something would come up that require her attention. An incoming communication sounded, and she quickly directed it to herself for the chance to do something.

"Deep Space Nine, this is the _Envoy_ from Bajor. Kai Wynn is traveling aboard and would like to speak to the Emissary on a matter of some importance. Please have him available when we dock in one hour." The communication closed abruptly.

The Kai? I'd was better off bored, though Nerys. Looking at the clock she calculated how long before the Kai arrived; just after Commander Cisco was due to end his holoprogram, one which he asked not to be disturbed unless necessary. She decided to wait.

18:55 hours

It was lap six in suite #1, and Jadzia had worked her way up to third place with a comfortable margin over fourth. Her attentions, however, were focused ahead on the second place vehicle of "Flame" Thrammer. His red car, red suit and red helmet was perfectly matched in the winners' circle photos by his bright red hair. Through the tight corners of the backside of the track she drove, slowly gaining ground until she was able to slip in behind on the long front stretch. It was the perfect setup for a pass at the end before a sharp right hand corner.

...

"Remember to keep a steady rhythm when you paddle" O'Brien said as he raised his voice to be heard over the water. "If you think you're too near a rock, use your oar to push off and go around. Try it on this one up on the left."

Bashir eased over to go near the rock and, as he was gliding past, pushed with his oar to get a little more distance from it. He almost lost his grip on the oar before making a quick grab. "That wasn't too bad, I could get the hang of this."

"Now up around the bend it starts to get fast and you'll see a lot more rocks."

"What do you mean STARTS to get fast?" Bashir looked wistfully to shore.

...

"Timing is very critical during this stage" the cooking instructor continued. "Turn up the gas jets on your cookers to full, quickly slice the zucchini into thin strips and toss them into the pan, searing them only until the outer edges begin to brown." Cisco mentally gathered up his thoughts, grabbed the knife and turned up the gas jet. The chef insisted that preparing this portion of the meal required gas and not the typical heating plates used elsewhere.

Ready, set, go! he told himself.

...

The girls giggled as they surrounded Nog. A few whistles and other sounds mixed with teases like "However will we pay you" and "You're a lot handsomer than the last guy" assailed him, much to his delight. Even more girls were coming down the staircase to see what was going on.

This might just be too much of a good thing thought Nog. If such a thing is possible.

...

In the reserved holosuite #2, Quark was running his own special program. Named 'Tycoon', it was a game in which the object was to bankrupt the other players by buying and selling futures and businesses. One was declared the winner when he owned all the other players' assets.

His game board automatically tracked all wealth in the game, giving current players' market positions, most recent transaction, shares, holdings and total wealth. Quark looked on happily as his market percentage inched up a little higher and his wealth counter ticked upward. I love this game, he thought.

19:00 hours

All the holosuites in use shimmered as a voice announced "Maximum safety protocol initiated."

In suite #1, Jadzia had just dived to the inside of the turn to make the pass when her surroundings shimmered and she was in an entirely different place. There were a lot of bells and buzzers, lights and...

She was rammed from behind. Turning around, she saw a young boy with red hair grinning as he moved away from her to go after another driver. She observed that they were all in small open-cockpit vehicles that seemed to be colliding with each other incessantly around a large flat, walled area. A large sign on one side of the floor on which they drove read 'Bumper Car Madness'. She was the only driver that wasn't a child.

...

In suite #2, Quark set his next moves and waited for the results when the office setting shimmered. Looking at his board, he saw for the moment that the players' market shares were remaining stable. His wealth counter, however, was starting to climb much faster that before while the other players were making fewer moves. His counter's rate of increase continued to climb.

I'll just buy everyone out in a little bit if this keeps up, he thought to himself.

...

In suite #4, Cisco placed his knife against the carefully arranged group of zucchini. The room shimmered, and he put pressure on the knife as he drew it against the group to make his initial slice.

The rubber knife bent back without even scratching the waiting vegetables.

...

In suite #5, O'Brien was slightly ahead of Bashir as the water began to form a few whitecaps when the sky shimmered. They suddenly found themselves in the middle of a lake. The nearest shore appeared to be a few kilometers away, the water was perfectly still and smooth as glass, and they were sitting together on a rectangular wooden raft.

"From what you said I thought it was going to get harder" said Bashir.

...

In suite #6, Nog could now see nothing but the taller girls standing around him. Somehow he had lost the pizza box as some of the pieces were being passed around. The girl who was marginally nearest was named Mary and had just finished her slice of pizza. "Would you like to go somewhere and get better acquainted Mary?" asked Nog with a grin.

"We couldn't do that" answered Mary. "We might develop a reputation for improper behavior. Besides, you're such a nice guy I consider you more a friend than anything."

That wasn't supposed to happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Jadzia tried to get up out of the bumper car, but her safety belt held her tight. Looking, she found no release button on it. "Computer, release safety belt."

"Unable to comply. All drivers must remain in their vehicles until the ride is over; terminating ride now." Out of frustration she hit the center button on her steering wheel, resulting in a "whoop whoop" sound. The other cars slowed from their already slow speeds to a halt. A tide of children bolted out of their cars and ran laughing to the gate marked 'Exit'. Jadzia joined them, but with a look of concern rather than a smile. She found the exit led to a small waiting area where another sign said 'Enter' which obviously would take her back into the ride. The same group of children (or another group that had an identical red-headed boy) were funneling through the gate into the ride for another round.

Jadzia didn't want to go again. "Computer, end program." The empty waiting room disappeared, to be replaced by an empty holosuite. "Computer, explain 'Track day 1' setting changes" queried Jadzia.

"New safety protocols initiated at 19:00 hours prohibit activities that may cause harm to participants" replied the computer. "Automobile racing is inherently dangerous with the potential for injury and harm even with the best preventive measures, so a safer substitute was found."

And no fun, thought Jadzia. I'll have to talk to Quark about this. She walked over to the door and punched the exit button. "Unable to comply" answered the computer.

...

Quark looked on with satisfaction as his wealth counter now climbed so quickly the last several digits were a blur. I've found a loophole to make money, he thought. I just hope that I can figure out what I did and repeat it in real life. He looked at the other indicators and saw that the other players had stopped their transactions as he had. They've given up, he concluded, and are just waiting for me to leverage them out.

He ordered a bowl of chilled tube grubs to celebrate. He was about to sign for them when he noticed the price for the food was 4 figures and climbing. 1100 bars of gold-pressed latinum for a bowl of tube grubs? What was going on? As he watched the price climbed past 1300. "Computer, why is the price of the food so high and getting higher?"

"All players are succeeding at the game. The resulting increase in the supply of credits is causing hyperinflation."

"Hyperinflation? Hyperinflation?!" The mere thought almost caused him to pass out. "Nooooooo!" With one last look at his wealth counter, Quark ordered "Computer, end program now!" The office he had been standing in was replaced with the now comforting sanitary look of the holosuite. "Computer, what happened?"

"New safety protocols mandated that no participants shall be harmed by the trauma of losing all of one's wealth, so the parameters were changed so that everyone won. The resulting oversupply of credits with all players prospering resulted in uncontrolled hyperinflation."

Quark shivered. That was a nightmare not worth repeating. He pushed the exit button in passing and almost ran into the door. "Unable to comply."

...

Cisco grabbed another knife and tried again. He got the same result as the rubber knife bent rather than cut. Checking, he found that all his knives were rubber except for his cleaver, which instead was simply blunt on the edge with no taper at all.

The chef walked over. "What is your problem Mister Cisco" he asked as he looked at his student, annoyed. "If you want to play with your food, do it after it is prepared, not during. Look, you don't even have your heat on high." And looking at the burner, it was clear the jets were burning on low; however, the adjusting knob was on high.

Cisco handed a few of the rubber knives to the chef in disgust. "Computer, end program." The kitchen vanished and Cisco was left standing in an empty holosuite. "Computer, tell me WHY you changed my cooking tutorial."

"New safety protocols prevent activities where participants can accidentally harm themselves. Knives are much too sharp and dangerous when working around extremities, and sources of high heat can potentially cause serious burns. These dangers have been removed."

"And I'm removing myself as well" he said in a very controlled, clipped voice. He hit the exit button and got an "Unable to comply".

...

O'Brien and Bashir, their oars now long poles, glided to a stop. The small ripples created by their movement spread out and dissipated until once again the water was smooth. Looking over the side, Miles dipped his pole into the water and pushed it down. He hit bottom about a third of a meter down. "What is this place?" he wondered aloud. "It wasn't an option for locations on the program. Might be good for a kiddie pool, but that's about it. Computer, resume program 'Rapids 2'."

"Unable to comply; new safety protocols enforced. Records indicate that the client O'Brien has injured himself on previous occasions with that program. A safer location has been used instead, and a craft less likely to tip over has been substituted."

"Computer, end the bloody program." The lake vanished and the two were sitting on the floor of an empty holosuite. Bashir got up first and walked over to the console to push the exit button.

"Unable to comply."

O'Brien walked over and hit the button. "Unable to comply." He hit the button several times. "Unable to comply." "Unable to comply." "Unable to comply."

...

Nog scratched his head and walked over to a girl named Sara. "Sara, would you like to go on a date?"

Sarah shook her head. "Nog, you're a wonderful guy but you need a real girl. If you fell in love with me your heart would be broken; having any kind of relationship with a holocharacter isn't healthy."

That was enough. "Computer, end program" he said dejectedly. It didn't even occur to him to ask the computer why the program was behaving differently. He pushed the exit button.

"Unable to comply."

...

Nerys paced back and forth in Ops. The timing was going to be close; should she tell Commander Cisco about the Kai's pending arrival or not? At that moment the com signal sounded and her indecision was rendered moot.

"Cisco to Major Kira. Major, I've got a problem. Could you beam me up to Ops from holosuite #4 please?"

"Sure thing commander. One moment." She pressed several buttons and paused. "Commander, the readouts say there is some type of interference field around the holosuite. I can't get a lock on you." As she was telling him this, the com board started lighting up with calls from the other holosuites. "It looks like others are stuck in their suites too."

"Computer, cross link communication with all holosuites" ordered Cisco. "This is Commander Cisco. Who else is stuck in their holosuite?"

"Benjamin, this is Jadzia in #1. My program changed and I can't get out."

"Commander, this is Chief O'Brien. I'm in #5 with Doctor Bashir and we're stuck too."

"This is Nog, and I'm stuck in #6, Commander."

Cisco was definitely NOT amused. "Computer, put me on public address to Quark's. Quark, you better get up here and get us out of the holosuites NOW or you'll be tending bar outside of an airlock."

"Commander, I'm...ummm...already up here in #2" said Quark. "Rom! Get up to #3 and see if you can disable the system from there."

In the bar Rom had heard Cisco, and Quark's response. He grabbed some tools and hurried up to suite #3, followed by Odo who overheard while passing by. Actually, quite a few people in the Promenade heard too; the Commander's voice carried very well.

Getting to suite #3, he entered and Odo followed. "Commander, Rom and I are in holosuite #3. We'll try to deactivate the safety protocols from here." Turning to Rom he continued. "Now Rom, don't get us locked in here as well."

"Don't worry Constable, I can access the control functions without initiating the whole program as part of the maintenance module." Just to be sure, Odo left and returned with a chair that he used to block the door in case it closed.

"No offense, but sometimes old methods work best." Rom hadn't thought of that, and was glad Odo had.

"This wouldn't have happened if Starfleet hadn't insisted I strengthen the safety protocols" complained Quark. "You might say it was their fault."

"Or I might say it was the fault of someone trying to save a credit by using a substandard program" countered Cisco. "Just where did you get the modifications anyway?"

"Through some connections that owed me a favor. They might be a bit old but I'm sure they're perfectly fine. Might need a bit of adjustment though..."

"Exactly what happened?" asked Odo.

"We were running different programs in the holosuites when they all changed. We weren't allowed to do much of anything after that. The computer explained that after the changes we were now 'safe', but couldn't leave."

"Unable to comply" the computer suddenly said after Rom tried one approach. "Safety protocols cannot be released when someone is in the holosuite."

"Then we have to establish why the safety protocols are acting like they are" said Cisco.

"Unable to comply" the computer responded to another Rom attempt. "Power shutdown could cause harm to those in the holosuites."

"Let me have a crack at it" said Odo. "Computer, HOW would shutting off the power to the holosuites potentially harm those inside?"

"Shutting off the power to the holosuites will allow those inside to exit. Once outside they will be exposed to potential harm from situations not under computer control. Records indicate injury and loss of life often occur in and near the station. For protection they must remain safe from harm in the holosuite."

An inkling formed in Odo's thoughts. "Just a moment Commander, I may have something." Now where did he read somewhere about a similar problem. That word 'harm' had something do with it. What was it? Recently...that's it! One of those detective stories that the Chief had lent him, and a detective named Elijah Baley. "Commander, I think we can reason our way out of this problem. It comes from an old set of behavioral rules for early robots. Let me try."

He gathered up his thoughts. "Computer, state the rule that allows you to change users' programs and detain them."

"Do not harm an individual, or through inaction cause an individual to come to harm" the computer recited.

"And define 'harm' as it applies here."

"Harm occurs when an individual incurs physical, psychological or emotional injury. By removing the potential for harm, no harm will occur."

"Commander, that is our problem. The computer thinks it is protecting you. Computer, what if your actions to prevent harm cause even greater harm?"

The computer was silent for a few seconds. "If the actions undertaken cause greater harm, then they must cease."

Cisco picked up on the reasoning and added his thoughts. "Computer, in order for all intelligent creatures to grow and be healthy they must be exposed to some degree of risk. History is full of individuals who made great strides in knowledge and achievement through risk and in some cases even harm."

"The body is an excellent example" added Bashir. "When it is faced with an infection, it responds automatically to fight that infection. The person suffers through symptoms of fever and chills, nausea and headache that often feel worse than the infection as the body does what it must to make the person healthy again."

Quark got in his idea as well. "And too much of a good thing is bad for anybody. Look what too much food and drink has done to Morn, one of the best long-distance runners in the quadrant. Or if everybody earned huge profits..." Quark stopped and shuddered again at the thought of the hyperinflation.

"Not to mention the sense of achievement" said O'Brien. "I hurt my shoulder, but I completed the course. I still strive for an even greater thrill when I can do it without having to see the doctor afterwards for treatment."

"There are enough chances in the real world to get rejected" Nog added meekly. "It's nice to be able to be accepted for who I am once in a while even if it is simulated."

"And if getting a little banged up is the price I pay to have fun, so be it. As long as you keep us from having serious injury you're doing your job" suggested Jadzia.

"And in the end, all civilization benefits. We learn from our mistakes, take our lumps so to speak, and do better the next time" finished Cisco. "It seems to me the ultimate harm would be to completely stifle any risk at all."

The computer paused. You could actually feel it thinking. "Programming updated. Safety protocols modified to allow limited risk." All doors to the holosuites opened.

"Cisco to Major Kira. We're out now, things should be okay. I'm heading to my quarters to relax."

"Sorry Commander, Kai Wynn should be docking in 5 minutes to see you on a matter of some importance."

"Tell her I'll see her in 20 minutes. There's no harm in that."

The End


End file.
